Leather Jackets
by kaceyinspacey
Summary: Rachel and Nina take Gary shopping for the leather jacket he's always wanted. Like the one from Step Up 2: The Streets. Taken from Gary's comment to Anna about wanting to buy his own clothes from Monday's episode. R and R.


A/N: Yet another short oneshot. Pretty soon I'm gonna work on a longer more plot driven story, but for now these are just so fun to write! R and R!

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><p>After the time Gary spent with Anna, things started to change for Gary. Everything coming out of Anna's conversations with him had been negative. He started to take baby steps towards taking care of himself. His mother had noticed the change, and was pleased. She loved her son deeply, but keeping him happy was a challenge. Little things during the time they spent together stuck out to her. He was getting his own water at bedtime, which was something they both knew he had always been capable of. It was just a matter of someone else goading him to do it. Coming from his mother, the suggestion that he should do things for himself had been ridiculous and unwarranted. Coming from Anna, it sounded completely different.<p>

"Mom. I think I need new clothes," Gary blurted, in between bites at the dinner table.

Sandra Bell looked up from her dinner. "I'll stop by the store tomorrow after work," she answered, smiling. She worked at the hospital as a registered nurse. Before Gary started spending time with Dr. Rosen and his friends there, there was no way Sandra could have held a job. It was so nice to be back at work. Gary shook his head.

"I want to go, Mom. I'll go," Gary offered. "I'll pick my own shirts. I'll pick them."

Sandra was surprised. Gary hated to go to stores. Ever since he was born, stores made him restless and had led to his fair share of meltdowns as a child. She had learned very quickly that stores and Gary did not get along. "You want to come with me? I can take the day off and you and I can go tomorrow. The Gap is having a sale." Gary shook his head again.

"No. I'll go by myself." Even when he said it, he knew it wouldn't fly. He'd have to rethink this. "Rachel and Nina will take me. They are my friends with Dr. Rosen and Bill and Hicks. They can go with me."

Sandra thought for a minute, before nodding. She wasn't about to put a stop to Gary's move towards independence. It all started with his getting the water at bedtime, and this was forward motion. "That would be fine. I'm glad that you have friends, and I think it would be very fun for you to go out with them." Gary nodded, pleased with himself. He knew Anna would have been pleased with him too. He missed her.

Gary started flipping through the channels in his head, and clearly found something humorous because he burst out laughing. "Mom. 'America's Funniest Home Videos is on. We can watch it in the living room. It's really funny, Mom. That cat just chased the dog." Sandra put the dishes on the counter and they went into the living room to watch TV until bedtime. These were the nights Sandra loved.

The next morning, Friday morning, Sandra packed up Gary's lunch and he went off to work with Dr. Rosen. When Gary got in the van, Rachel was in the front seat, like normal. "Good morning, Gary," Rachel said cheerfully.

"Good morning. Rachel. Can you take me shopping? I need new clothes and I don't want my mother to buy them for me. Can you take me? And Nina?"

"Sure, Gary. That sounds like fun! I'm sure we can find some shirts at the Gap. They're having a sale this weekend," Rachel said. "We could go Saturday, if you would like." She was immediately looking forward to this. She turned around to look at Gary. He was on the phone.

"Mom. Rachel is taking me shopping on Saturday. Okay. Bye," he paused, and then sighed. "I love you too, Mom. Okay. I'm always careful. Okay. Bye."

"I can go on Saturday." Rachel smiled.

"Sounds good, Gary. We'll see if Nina will drive us. In her sweet car." Rachel said. If not, she would have to borrow Dr. Rosen's van. She would much prefer Nina's red convertible to the van.

When they arrived at the office, Nina was in her office painting her nails. Gary walked straight in, followed by Rachel.

"Will you go shopping with me? Rachel is going with me too. But we want to drive your car," Gary asked. "And I can drive your car, too."

Nina looked up and laughed. "Yes to the shopping, but no to the driving, Gary. I like driving my car too much to let anyone else drive it!" Gary conceded. "Where did you want to go shopping? The Gap is having a sale," she added.

"Do all girls know when sales are?" Gary asked, recalling that his mother and Rachel had also said that. Hicks had walked in to Nina's office, at this point.

"Yes, Gare. It's a special Alpha ability that all women have, even the ones who aren't actually Alphas. Kind of like a sixth sense," he said. Gary nodded.

"Oh. Okay," Gary said, filing that information away. Sometimes people confused him, but girls always confused him.

It was time for their morning briefing with Dr. Rosen. They went to the conference room where Bill was putting the last screw in a fancy new table. It was a huge table, but they all sat down at the very end next to each other anyways, except Bill.

"Why are you all the way down there, Bill?" Gary asked, looking down the table.

"I'm appreciating all the room we have at the table now for all it's worth," he explained, stretching and putting his feet up on the table. Gary got up and went to sit by Bill, imitating the pose, placing his Converse covered feet next to Bill's shiny shoes. "It's nice, isn't it?" Bill asked Gary. Gary nodded, before accidently leaning back on his chair too far and tipping it. He would have hit the ground if Bill hadn't caught the back of the chair.

"That's dangerous. I don't think I'll do that. I'll sit normal," Gary said, shaken up.

The rest of the briefing goes off without any further incidents and pretty soon they were all back in their offices working independently.

They actually got out of the office at five, which was nice. Before taking off, Nina stopped by Gary's office. "Hey Gare. I was thinking that we could go to the mall at ten tomorrow morning. Does that work for you?"

"Yes. You can pick me up at my house," Gary answered, standing up. Nina nodded. She would pick Gary up at ten, and then swing by Rachel's house.

The next day, Gary was up early. He was very excited for the day, but nervous as well. Sandra could sense that he was nervous and tried to lighten the mood.

"I'm going to give you my credit card, Gary. You can buy what ever you want, as long as you don't spend more than two hundred," she said, handing Gary a glass of water. Gary's eyes widened when she told him how much. He had never bought anything for himself, and didn't realize how much things cost. Two hundred dollars sounded as huge as a million. Just then, the doorbell rang.

"That's Nina," Gary said standing up, but not moving towards the door. Sandra took that as her cue to open the door. Gary got especially shy in situations that were out of the norm.

"Hi, Nina. It's nice to see you again," Sandra said, letting Nina come in.

"Hi, Ms. Bell," Nina said. "Hi, Gary. Are you ready to head to the mall?" she asked. Gary nodded and grabbed his jacket.

"Bye, Mom." The door closed. Gary got in the front seat and waited for Nina to start the car. They pulled up in front of the Laundromat that Rachel's family owned. Rachel was waiting outside, and she jumped in the back seat behind Gary. '

"Hi, Rachel," Gary said.

"Hi, Gary. Thanks for driving, Nina. It was either this or borrow Dr. Rosen's van," Rachel said.

"No problem! This is going to be fun. I love shopping," Nina answered, pulling away from the curb. Gary was flipping through the frequencies in his head, laughing every once in a while.

All of a sudden, Gary stopped, as though he remembered something important. "I want a leather jacket. Like the one on Step Up 2: The Streets. My mom said I can spend two hundred dollars on new clothes." Nina and Rachel laughed. "Don't laugh. I'm serious. I want a cool leather jacket."

"Sorry, Gare. I'm sure we can find a leather jacket for you," Nina said, looking over at him. He seemed to accept that answer and started to scan for frequencies again. Nina pulled up to the mall parking lot. Because it was a Saturday, it was packed. Rachel got a little bit nervous. Gary didn't like crowds. Nina saw a young man getting out of his car. It was a great spot. "Sir?" she called out the window. He walked over to her side of the car. "I was wondering, could you move your car? I'd like to park there." The man nodded, and wordlessly got back into his car and backed out.

"Dr. Rosen said we shouldn't use our abilities like that. We can only use them when it is really important," Gary said, distressed.

Nina smiled. "This is important. We need to get you a leather jacket that will make Hicks and Bill jealous. You can wear it to the office on Monday." That answer satisfied Gary, but probably just because he really wanted the jacket.

They got out of the car and walked in the door to the mall. There were a lot of people walking around inside, some with strollers, some with wheelchairs, and some just wandering alone. "Should we go to the Gap first? Then we can go to Wilson's Leather for your jacket," Rachel offered.

"No. Let's get the jacket first," Gary said, looking around. He couldn't remember the last time he'd been to the mall. "Where is the leather store? Wilson's Leather." Nina pointed down the wing of the mall to the left. They headed off, Gary staying very close to Rachel, while Nina led the way.

Wilson's Leather was almost deserted. Apparently no one was looking for a leather jacket that day. Gary bee-lined for a rack of some flashy jackets. He tried to pull one off the hanger, but didn't realize they were attached to the rack to prevent shoplifting. Rachel held the jacket open so he could try it on. The one he was currently trying was worn looking black leather with an intricate stitched design on the back. The sleeves had studded seams around the wrist, and there were several unnecessary zippers and pockets.

The sales lady walked over to see if they needed any help. "That's a good look for you, sir. It comes in different leather, as well, if that isn't exactly what you're looking for," she said, adjusting the collar for him. Gary ignored her for a minute, but then realized that she was looking for a response from him.

"Thank you," he said, slipping out of the jacket. She glanced at Rachel and smiled.

"Just let me know if you need anything." She turned to walk away.

"Thank you," Gary said again. "I like this one," he stated, but he was already looking at some of the jackets hanging against the wall. There was one in particular that had caught his eye. It had more studs on it, and it was shinier leather than the first one. Rachel helped him try this one on, and Gary looked in the mirror, considering it. "Mm. I like this one. Rachel. Is this a good look for me?" he asked, mimicking the sales lady's earlier question.

"I like it, Gary. I liked the first one too, though. What do you think, Nina?" Nina walked over.

Nina looked at him through the mirror, tilting her head. "I think I liked the first one better. It looked more tough," she answered. Gary tilted his head too. He started to walk back to the first one he tried on, forgetting that the jacket he had on was still connected to the rack. After being jarred backwards, he slipped out of the jacket and handed it to Rachel.

Half an hour later, Gary had tried on practically every jacket in the store. In the end, he ended up deciding on the first one he tried on. Rachel was the first one to check the price. It was $150. That wouldn't leave much money for any of the practical things his mother thought they were going to purchase. She shared that concern with Nina, who wasn't worried.

"He really wants this, and I think it would be okay if this was the only thing we came home with," she said. "Besides, I have a coupon." Nina held up a ticket stub from a movie she'd seen a few weeks ago. Rachel tried to argue with her, saying that it was stealing to make the store take a fake coupon, but Nina disagreed. "No one will know, and I'll only make it 20 percent off." Rachel shook her head, but conceded to let Nina use the 'coupon'.

Gary insisted on wearing the jacket out, stashing his old windbreaker in the sack. He looked at his reflection at every mirror or window on their way to the Gap. Gary still had $87 dollars to spend. He quickly selected three striped tee-shirts and two plaid button shirts. He just wanted to wear the jacket around, and the shirts were really more of an after thought. The $200 dollars spent, they made their way back to the car. Rachel was surprised that Gary handled the crowds so well. Actually, Gary was so focused on his jacket that he barely noticed the throngs of people Rachel was guiding him through.

At 11:30, they pulled up in front of Gary's house. His mother was in the front yard gardening.

"Mom! I got a leather jacket. Like in Step Up 2: The Streets." He had gotten out of the car so quickly he forgot his bag from the Gap. Nina grabbed the bag and walked up to them.

Sandra was looking at the jacket, turning Gary so she could see the back. While she knew the jacket wasn't very practical, it made her son very happy, so she smiled. "It's very nice, Gary. You look handsome in it," she said, looking at Nina. "Thank you for taking him shopping. He's wanted a leather jacket for a very long time."

"We had fun. Here's the stuff he got at the Gap," she said, handing Sandra the bag. "Gary, I'm going to go home now. Make sure you wear the jacket to the office on Monday."

"He'll probably sleep in it," Sandra said. Nina laughed and walked back to her car and driving off.


End file.
